Full title: Σιβυλλιακῶν Χρησμῶν λόγοι ὀκτώ. Sibyllinorum Oraculorum Libri VIII. Addita Sebastiani Castalionis interpretatione Latina, qu[a]e Gr[a]eco erigionè respondeat. Cum annotationib. Xysti Betuleij in Græca Sibyllina oracula, & Sebastiani Castalionis in translationem suam: quæ Annotationes numeris marginalibus signantur. Quæ pr[a]eterea huic editioni ultra priorem accesserint, diligens lector ex pr[a]efationib. & collatione facilè deprehendet.

8vo. pp. 333, [3].

Bound with: Ex veterum comicorum fabulis, quæ integræ non extant, sententiæ. Nunc primum in sermonem Latinum conversæ. Paris, Apud Guil. Morelium, 1553, pp. [4], 147, [1].

Exquisitely bound for Julius von Thungen, a German aristocrat, in contemporary polished French calf. Spine with raised bands, devices in compartments, and identifying information gilt-tooled directly to spine (not on labels). Covers gilt-ruled with gilt fleurons to corners and a gilt armorial supralibros at center, incorporating in its wreath a gilt “G.W.” and “1558,” presumably the binder’s signature and the year in which the book was bound. All edges gilt and gauffered; traces of a 16th-century manuscript used as rear pastedown. Text ruled in red, with an appended, unrelated gathering B entitled Phocylidis poema admonitorium (from an unidentified 16th-century probably French edition) and two leaves of gathering F misbound. Armorial supralibros of Julius von Thungen (ca. 1558) on covers as above; bookplate of Anton Ruland (1874) and Goldschmidt’s gilt booklabel “E PH G” (ca. 1900) on front pastedown; modern label of G. J. Arvanitidi and autograph of Anton Ruland on front free endpaper; casemark label to rear pastedown. Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

The E.P. Goldschmidt copy of a fascinating humanistic sammelband, “an example of a German student’s binding made in some French university town, whether Paris, Bourges or Orleans” (E.P. Goldschmidt, Gothic and Renaissance Bookbindings. London & Boston, 218). The first work is the first Greek-Latin edition of the ‘Sibyllinorum oraculorum libri VIII,’ based on Birck’s Greek edition of 1545 as amended and translated by Sébastien Castellion (1515-1563). These were short prophecies allegedly uttered by the ancient Sibyls, imbued with Greek mythology and the doctrines of Gnosticism, Hebraism, and early Christianity. The second work is the first Greek-Latin edition of a florilegium of ancient drama and poetry – including prominently Menander – which had survived in fragmentary form only. Like the oracles, these excerpts were interpreted allegorically by humanists as a gateway to disclose pagan insights into the coming of Christ. Present here is the Latin translation only, the Greek never having  been bound in.

I: Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachbereich erschienenen Drucke des 16. Jahrhunderts. Munchen, S6278; J.G.T. Grässe, Trésor de livres rares et précieux. Dresden, VI, 398.

II:: A. Pettegree & M. Walsby, French books III & IV: books published in France before 1601 in Latin and languages other than French. Leiden & Boston, 2012, 79713.

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